Review
Tillage effects on soil hydraulic properties in space and time: State of the science

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Abstract

Soil tillage practices can affect soil hydraulic properties and processes dynamically in space and time with consequent and coupled effects on chemical movement and plant growth. This literature review addresses the quantitative effects of soil tillage and associated management (e.g., crop residues) on the temporal and spatial variability of soil hydraulic properties. Our review includes incidental management effects, such as soil compaction, and natural sources of variability, such as topography. Despite limited research on space–time predictions, many studies have addressed management effects on soil hydraulic properties and processes relevant to improved understanding of the sources of variability and their interactions in space and time. Whether examined explicitly or implicitly, the literature includes studies of interactions between treatments, such as tillage and residue management. No-tillage (NT) treatments have been compared with various tillage practices under a range of conditions with mixed results. The trend, if any, is for NT to increase macropore connectivity while generating inconsistent responses in total porosity and soil bulk density compared with conventional tillage practices. This corresponds to a general increase in ponded or near-zero tension infiltration rates and saturated hydraulic conductivities. Similarly, controlled equipment traffic may have significant effects on soil compaction and related hydraulic properties on some soils, but on others, landscape and temporal variability overwhelm wheel-track effects. Spatial and temporal variability often overshadows specific management effects, and several authors have recognized this in their analyses and interpretations. Differences in temporal variability depend on spatial locations between rows, within fields at different landscape positions, and between sites with different climates and dominant soil types. Most tillage practices have pronounced effects on soil hydraulic properties immediately following tillage application, but these effects can diminish rapidly. Long-term effects on the order of a decade or more can appear less pronounced and are sometimes impossible to distinguish from natural and unaccounted management-induced variability. New standards for experimental classification are essential for isolating and subsequently generalizing space–time responses. Accordingly, enhanced methods of field measurement and data collection combined with explicit spatio-temporal modeling and parameter estimation should provide quantitative predictions of soil hydraulic behavior due to tillage and related agricultural management.

Introduction

In recent decades, investigations documenting spatially averaged comparisons between tillage practices, usually contrasting “snap shots” of tillage versus no-tillage (NT), have become relatively common and have provided scientists and producers with broad insight about resultant, fundamental differences in soil physical properties and crop production. Currently our technological ability to apply precision agricultural practices for efficient resource management and crop yield enhancement outpaces our understanding of, and ability to predict, temporal and spatial variability of soil hydraulic behavior in response to management practices. Soil tillage represents, arguably, the most influential manipulation or alteration of soil physical properties because of repetitive application, its depth range extending up to tens of centimeter, and because it influences the type of residue management applied. Likewise, informed tillage application in response to temporal variability in soil hydraulic properties can invoke attractive benefits in areas that have suffered from low yield and inefficient resource allocation in the past (Raper et al., 2000). The research community is just beginning to explore the dynamic temporal and spatial variability in soil physical properties and processes in light of various tillage management practices, and the time is ripe to summarize the state of knowledge for this aspect of agricultural management.

The purpose of this paper is to review the literature and state of the science concerning: (1) causes of continuous temporal and spatial variability in observed soil hydraulic properties and processes as a result of tillage practices and (2) our ability to quantify and predict the effects of tillage practices on dynamically evolving soil hydraulic properties. We do not attempt to provide a review of studies that quantify spatial and temporal variability of soil properties and processes alone; rather, we address spatial and temporal variability resulting from soil tillage and its incidental effects, such as compaction from wheel traffic and crop residue management. Our paper begins with a background discussion of relevant soil hydraulic properties and processes, and follows with a brief overview of spatial and temporal inter-relationships between management practices and anthropogenic and natural variability, with specific emphasis on soil tillage practices. We then review numerous experimental studies dealing with spatio-temporal variability in soil physical properties and processes as a result of tillage management, including responses from coupled tillage and irrigation activities/experiments. Subsequently, we present a brief discussion of residue management and mechanical compaction, since these activities are often directly impacted by tillage practices and affect soil physical characteristics in space and time. We also review modeling endeavors designed to address tillage effects on dynamically evolving soil physical and hydraulic properties. We conclude with a discussion and summary of the need for a more mechanistic understanding of spatio-temporal dynamics of soil physical processes and properties from soil tillage, and the need to develop modeling tools that accurately characterize and predict this variability for prediction purposes.

Section snippets

Background

This review focuses on how soil hydraulic properties and processes vary dynamically in space and time as affected by tillage practices. We begin by identifying a brief taxonomy of the topic areas, first in terms of the soil hydraulic properties and processes being affected, and then by management practices and other causative factors. As in the literature review that follows, we present soil hydraulic properties in the order: soil bulk density, porosity, pore geometry, and soil structure; water

Literature review

The following literature review first presents information on both short- and long-term effects, as well as spatially variable effects, of soil tillage on soil hydraulic and physical properties and processes (Section 3.1). Although the work covered may not be exhaustive, it is representative and fairly comprehensive concerning recent advances and the state of the science. We include a sampling of literature that outlines long-term, spatially averaged, process response to changes in tillage

Toward predicting tillage-affected soil hydraulic properties

Synthesis of the above studies points to the need for improved quantification of tillage-induced changes in soil hydraulic properties in space and time. For example, Ahuja et al. (1998) proposed a practical method for estimating the soil water retention characteristics of a tilled soil from that of an untilled soil, given the change in porosity or bulk density. Previous field measurements have shown that most of the dynamic changes in pore-size distributions occur in the larger fraction of

Conclusions and recommendations

We have provided a detailed synopsis of the state-of-the-science for quantifying agricultural management effects, specifically tillage and related management activities, on soil hydraulic properties particularly relevant to space–time variability. We identified relationships between a large number of studies of management effects on basic soil properties and consequent detailed characterization of soil hydraulic properties in space and time. The literature demonstrates an awareness of

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